It’s only words…

All around us there are words. Our environment is full of notices, adverts, signs (mostly directing, allowing or forbidding!) and other visual paraphenalia. These words can make for interesting and thought-provoking images, especially if you deliberately remove the context. Here’s an example…

Who, or what, or where, is “VERY OLD”? Who carved the letters, and why? The image of just the words and sky doesn’t actually help you answer these questions, so you need to let your imagination take over.

Sometimes the sign seems odd even when you know the context. At first glance this sign is laughing at you – like the Nelson Muntz character in “The Simpsons”. It’s actually to indicate the presence of a “ha ha” or sunken ditch to keep animals from straying. Use a low angle to remove the background and you have an instant mystery.

Finally, here’s an Extra image. Like the other two images it works well because it’s been simplified with a low angle, and a plain blue sky.

As a project you could think of a well known phrase, go round looking for the words in that phrase, take a series of images of those words, and then put together a composite image showing the whole phrase. Try it!